


I hope you catch me, cause I’m already falling

by mayamattews (lydiastxles)



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/F, F/M, brief appearance of Riley Matthews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 22:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9463706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydiastxles/pseuds/mayamattews
Summary: When one of Josh and Maya’s friend can’t stop talking about how good they are together, the couple is obligated to confront their own feelings





	

Josh was never much of a fan of coffee growing up. He rarely drank it and despite the smell was amazing; he found the taste a little bit weird, so he never had any desire to drink like almost everyone he knew.

Of course, when he got into college and had to stay up all those nights to finish a paper or study to a test, coffee was his best friend. He really loved Topanga’s coffee but since he couldn’t go there all the time, for being a little far from his place, he had to find a decent substitute coffee shop near the university so he could maintain his relationship with those long nights.

Fortunately, his friend Jasmine worked on a little place just down the corner of NYU that served one of the best coffees he had tasted with a great price – especially with the discounts she got him sometimes.

That became his new favorite coffee shop. It was never full and it was a very calm place, so he could easily go there any time of the day to work in peace or even to go on a date that no one would bother him or whatever he was doing. His friends also hang out there and whenever Josh had nothing going on he’d come over there to help Jasmine or just bother her at work.

That was exactly what he was doing that moment. It was a Saturday afternoon and he was really bored, so Josh decided to show up and hang out with Jasmine until her shift was over. As soon as he stepped inside the place he saw something was wrong. The place was not empty like he was used to. Instead, there was a lot of people and a lot of noise filling the silence he liked so much.

As soon as Jasmine spotted him, she walked in his direction looking desperate.

“Thank God you’re here. I was just about to text you.”

“How is this place so full?” He looked around. “You’re giving away free coffee or something?”

“Jerry decided to distribute fliers on campus with a super discount on the exact day I’m here all by myself.” She rolled her eyes and hand him a pad and a pen. “Here. You take the orders while I do more coffee.”

He spent the next twenty minutes just taking orders from all those peoples. Most of them didn’t understood the concept of that place being a small coffee shop therefore not having as much options as Starbucks would have and just ordered something to go. That made him glad, because they knew that they wouldn’t come back that soon.

When he finished taking orders, he sat on the counter watching his friend deliver the last muffin to a costumer. As soon as the person left, her smile left her face and she sighed with exhaustion. Jasmine walked over Josh’s direction and gave him a few small papers.

“What’s that?” He asked picking one of those. It was a bunch of numbers in there.

“Secret admirers that found you very cute and flirty” She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, how do you get so many numbers without even trying?”

“Like you said, I am very cute and flirty.” He reached to pick out the other numbers, but she quickly took them. “I’m sorry Jas, but I don’t think they won’t notice that you’re not me.”

“Very funny” The brunette threw them at the garbage, receiving a disapproval look from Josh. “What? You’re not calling those girls, you’re not single!”

“Yes, I am single. Do you know how I know that? I spent my weekends organizing my CD collection alone while Andrew goes on a date.”

“You’re the lamest person ever” She smiled and served him some nuts. “I was talking about Maya. Andrew told me that you two were cuddling in the dark last week”

“What? She’s not… We’re not… Jasmine, we’re not a thing!”

“Yeah, you said that with such conviction that made me change my mind” He rolled his eyes. Josh hated when she did that. Before he could say anything, she walked towards some costumers that were in line to pay.

While she was busy he remembered what had happened that made in be in that situation. It was a Sunday night and he had just drove Maya back to campus, since both of them were visiting their families that weekend. They met up in Topanga’s and Josh offered her a ride, but in the middle of his way to her apartment, Maya started to complain that she had to go to the bathroom and made him stop at his place.

Unfortunately, that was a lame excuse so she could crash at the apartment he shared with his best friend. Since Lucas was in town visiting Riley, Maya felt that they needed a time alone together to enjoy themselves. So all she needed was a place to stay the night.

He didn’t complain. He liked having Maya around and Andrew was a good friend of her too, so he wouldn’t be bothered at all by her presence there. They enjoyed the rest of the night by watching a movie but ended up falling asleep in the couch. So when Andrew came home that evening, all he saw was the two of them sleeping and Maya resting her body against Josh.

Josh was amazed how he hadn’t called Jasmine to come over their place that second.

“Hey, stop day dreaming” Jasmine poked him and pointed to the tables. “Go refill and take more orders.”

“Wow, it’s almost like I work here” She smiled and continued making coffees. He refilled some coffees and went to a table in the corner to take the order of two girls.

“Hello, what can I get you?” He asked getting his pad.

“Oh, I’ll have some Boing with syrup” Josh’s face immediately turned red while he moved his eyes from the pad to Maya, who was smirking. “What’s up loser? I didn’t know you work here”

“I don’t. I’m helping Jasmine avoid a breakdown” He pointed to the menu in front of her. “Did you decide what you want yet?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a cinnamon bun and a large cup of coffee and Piper wants an ice tea and blueberry cheesecake”

“Okay. I’ll be right back with your and your friend’s order.”

“Date” She corrected. Josh raised his brow. “Piper is my date.”

“Oh… Great!” Piper smiled awkwardly at him and Josh didn’t know what to do. “Dates are great… You know… Holding hands… Sharing a smoothie… Although neither of you ordered one.” He scratched the back of his head. “So… Nice to meet you Piper and… I’ll… go now.”

He handed the order to Jasmine and made the best he could to just hind behind the counter pretending to organize the way the sweets were displayed. Jasmine caught the weird movement he was doing and stared at him until he looked at her.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“This is a mess! Look… Who puts chocolate cheesecake right next to strawberry cheesecake? _It doesn’t make any sense!_ ”

“You’re the one that doesn’t make any sense” She pulled him up. “What’s got into you?”

“Maya is on a date” He discretely pointed at her direction.

“So? You shouldn’t be bothered since you just said that you two weren’t a thing” She grabbed their order. “Here. Take this to their table”

He glared at her, but picked the food. “You’re a horrible person”

As he served them their food, Josh did his best to not look at Maya or to acknowledge that Piper’s hands were on her knees. He barely took his eyes off the food and nodded when they said thank you, walking as fast as he could to the counter where Jasmine didn’t even try to hide her smirk.

If he was being completely honest with himself, he found this whole situation weird. He had admitted to her that he liked her but he thought he got over it. But seeing her in a date right in front of him made him start to consider that might not be the case.

“Look at the bright side; at least you get a free scone” Jasmine said trying to cheer him up when Maya and her date kissed an hour later.

* * *

Maya didn’t have a lot of friends at NYU like she had in her high school years. Mostly because all of her friends went to other colleges, some far other nearby, but it was still a big adaptation for her. Even though Riley was her roommate, she still went to another school and was very busy working on Columbia’s newspaper. They always found time for each other, but once she was walking around campus, she knew she had to get some news friends.

When she got into NYU, Shawn put Josh on Maya duty. He had to make sure she got everything she needed, give some tips and check up on her often so she wouldn’t be lost on her first months. However, even though things worked out perfectly for the first two weeks, Josh started to get busier with his projects and couldn’t always be there for Maya when she needed, so he put his friends to help her out.

Andrew, Charlotte and Jasmine took turns constantly to help her out and that made it easier to become friends with them. She already knew them from the time she and Riley crashed that NYU party Josh went, so it was a little awkward but fun. Maya had a great connection with them and often hung out on their places when she had nothing to do.

Out of the three of them, Maya’s relationship with Jasmine was considered the weirdest one. For some reason, people found it completely weird that Jasmine and Maya was friends. Mostly because of their personalities being way different and people considering that Maya wouldn’t have that much patience dealing with the meddling Jasmine.

However, it was quite the opposite. Maya mostly joined Jasmine on finding out what was going on between their friends. Their target was mostly finding out what was going on in Andrew’s love life and getting him annoyed when they showed up with a full report on the girl he was seeing at the moment. Sometimes Maya was the target though, getting a lot of texts from Jasmine wanting to know how her current situation with Josh was. But other than that, they had a great time together and were always there for each other when they needed.

With that in mind, Jasmine always turned to Maya to help her with something at work.

“Hi, Maya?” Jasmine bit her lip. “Are you busy right now? Can you come over?” The brunette smiled when she told her she was on her way. Almost a half an hour went by until Maya got to the coffee shop. The place was empty that day, once it opened only at night for the weekly live performance. The rest of the day Jasmine would just clean the place and prepare for the presentations.

As soon as Maya walked in, Jasmine smiled relief.

“Hey… What’s wrong?”

“Jerry, that’s what’s wrong.” Maya nodded. She knew the owner and it was a miracle that the place was still open given all the stupid things he made people do to his place. “Yesterday he erased the board menu and wrote a new one.”

“So you need my beautiful handwriting and art to go there so he won’t complain.”

“Exactly. And in exchange, you get a large coffee for a month. Not transferable.”

“Deal.” She put her hair up. “Just give me the chalks and the new menu and I’ll be done within the hour.”

“Thank you!” She handed her what she needed and grabbed a mop. “I tried to do it but after the first three drinks I got bored and it got really ugly.”

“That’s fine, I wasn’t doing anything anyway. Riley went out to do some research for the paper and Piper has classes all afternoon, so…”

With the mention of Maya’s girlfriend, Jasmine looked at her friend. She swore she wouldn’t bring up Piper with her, but she also couldn’t pass that opportunity. The brunette cleared her throat and continued to clean, no more paying attention on what she was doing.

“Oh, right! How rude of me… How’s Piper?” She had to remain cool about it so Maya wouldn’t suspect where the conversation was leading to. “You’re still dating or just friends?”

“She’s great, just a little busy this week…” Maya was concentrated on her work. “We’re still dating. That reminds me, she has a single friend that you’d like.”

“I’m good on that subject.” There was a long pause between them. “So… does that mean that you’re over Josh? Like… For real?”

“Well… Yeah, I guess…” She grabbed another chalk and continued writing. “I mean… We never had our _someday_ as we thought… _I_ thought we’d have, but…”

“What is this someday by the way? I never understood that.”

“It means that we’d live our lives and if someday it got to a point where we’d feel the same thing to each other… We’d give it a try.”

Maya’s mind vague for a while. She’d thought of the two of them so many times since she started college. Her 18 year old version was so excited to finally be in college and, in her mind, that’d be the time she’d get together with Josh, but that wasn’t the reality.

At the time he was dating someone and she started to get pretty busy with all the classes she was taking. Soon enough she was the one going out in a lot of dates and enjoying herself.

After that, they became really close and she was too afraid of saying something and losing that relationship wasn’t something she wanted to risk.

“Why haven’t you? I mean, I don’t believe you two stopped having feeling for each other” Jasmine was watching Maya very carefully. Even though her hands were still moving, her face was frozen.  “Quite the opposite, actually.”

“I’m dating someone, Jas.”

“I’m not saying that you don’t feel anything for Piper. I know you do.” She put the mop down and sat in one of the chairs near Maya. “All I’m saying is that your feelings never changed when it came to Josh. It only grew.”

“Even if this is true, and I’m not saying it is, he doesn’t feel the same way. He never said anything.” She finished writing and looked at Jasmine. “Not even when we were both single. I’m happy with Piper, Jas. And I’m okay with the idea of me and Josh never being together.”

Before Jasmine could say anything, she heard the bell of the door ringing, telling that someone had entered the place. She quickly turned to tell the person that they were closed when she realized it was Josh. Maya looked back at the board, revising her work and subtly telling her that they wouldn’t discuss that anymore.

“Hey, here is the list of performances for tonight…” He handed Jasmine a block of paper. “Oh, hey Maya! Didn’t see you there. What you doing?”

“Lazy girl here asked for my help re-writing the menu” She smiled and climbed down the stairs. “In exchange, I got free coffee for a month.”

“ _What?_ ” Josh stared at his friend. “I help you out almost every day and I never got anything for free!”

“Except the things you eat when you think I’m not watching?” She smiled. “Well, Maya is the broke college student. She deserves it.”

“That’s my cue to leave.” She grabbed her bag and looked at Jasmine. “I’ll be here tomorrow morning for my large free cup of coffee then.”

“Want me to walk you to your place?” Josh offered.

“Nah, I’m fine. I’m going to buy more art supplies and then meet up with Piper.” She waved at them. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Is she okay?” Josh asked as soon as she stepped outside the place. Jasmine continued with the cleaning, pretending she hadn’t heard the question. “Jas, what’s wrong with Maya?”

She knew she wouldn’t have an out for that question, so she took a breath and started to tell him about their conversation, leaving just a few parts out of it. Josh couldn’t believe on what he was hearing. He knew Jasmine for a long time now and he was completely used of her way on her so called “investigation”. She had given him – and Maya – tons of monologues about them getting together, but he felt that what she had talked to Maya about today was the last straw.

He tried to be cool with it once more, but he couldn’t. That was too much for him and he needed her to understand that she couldn’t do that to people. Especially the ones that were currently in a relationship.

“What the hell Jasmine” She opened her mouth, but Josh wasn’t done. “No, enough talking. You need to stop doing this! That is not your life; you can’t meddle whenever you feel like it!”

“I was just…”

“You were just being you.” He took a deep breath and sat down beside her. “She’s in a relationship. Even if she wasn’t, you can’t tell people how to feel and when to act on it. It’s not your damn life!”

“Well, if you just told her…”

“Tell her what? Hey Maya, I like you and I never acted on it because I was too afraid of not working out? But now that Jasmine meddled once more, I realized that I’m an idiot and we should go out sometime.” He was almost yelling while pacing from one side to another. “Oh, by the way, please break up with your girlfriend for me!”

“I didn’t mean that way. I thought that if I just _talked_ to her and see what was going on…”

“What? We’d work it out?” He laughed sarcastically. “Because you’re the queen of relationships, right? Keep a relationship for more than a month and then you can start giving advice to people who asks for it! Stop meddling on other people’s love life just to have something to do!”

There was a silence. Josh looked at his friend and immediately regretted what he had said. Jasmine looked like he had punched her in the stomach. He walked towards her to apologize.

“Jas…” She took a step back and pointed to the other.

“Out.” He tried to speak again, but she didn’t give him a change. “Get the fuck out.” 

* * *

It wasn’t the time Josh and Jasmine had had a fight. They usually last two days tops before one of them – didn’t matter if it was the right one or the wrong one – came apologizing. This time wasn’t that different. The next day, Josh stopped at Jasmine’s place to apologize but all the brunette did was slammed the door on his face as soon as she saw it was him.

A week went by and she still hadn’t talked to him. He knew he took too far by mentioning her love life – that was a forbidden subject since her last long relationship gone wrong. Josh even appealed to his friends to see if she would talk to him but that was also a dead end. Andrew told him to give her some time and she’d come around, so he decided to follow his advice.

After almost two weeks, he ran into Maya. It wasn’t something it’d happen often, but he was glad to see her again. She didn’t seem to notice him, being too focused on caring a blank canvas, almost her size. He approached her and smiled.

“Wow, is not every day we see a blank canvas walking by itself” She moved it to face him and smiled back.

“You’re so funny”

“I do what I can” He pointed to the object of her hands. “Need any help?”

“That depends, where are you going?”

“Apparently, to your place” Josh grabbed it out of her hands. “Why are you bringing this to your apartment? NYU has a big painting room for art majors like you.”

“It’s for a project for next week. I decided to do it at home since I don’t have any classes tomorrow, so it’d be easier to do it at home than come back here.” She pointed to the sky. “I decided to bring now since it looks like it’s going to rain anytime soon.”

They walked for a few minutes in silence. Her place wasn’t that far, so it wasn’t like they stayed on an uncomfortable silence all the way. As soon as they got there, Maya barely had time to get her keys before the door opened when someone bumped into her. It was Riley.

“Hey Uncle Josh!” She hugged him. “What are you two doing here in the middle of the afternoon?”

“I was walking home when this creepy guy started to follow me” Maya pointed to Josh, taking the canvas out of his hands and putting into the apartment. “I’m done with the classes today.”

“Where are you going in such a rush, Riley?” Josh asked. She looked a little impatient but didn’t want to be rude leaving without making small talk.

“Oh I came home to grab some stuff.” She pointed to the umbrella in her hand. “I’m going to interview some religious leaders for my piece about the LGBT+ community.”

“You got the lead?” Maya asked excitedly. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Congratulations Riley!” She looked so excited but still eager to go. “Don’t let us keep you, go do your job.”

“Thanks Uncle Josh” She hugged them one more time before running towards the stairs. Maya yelled at her to be careful running in the stairs and Josh followed her, entering the apartment. She quickly grabbed the canvas and went to put in her room, leaving Josh alone in their living room.

Their place was really small, with just a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a shared bathroom. It was the best they could pay without much help from their parents and got a lot personality in it. There were a bunch of pictures of the two of them distributed in the place, a lot of Maya’s paintings, two big paintings of Riley’s purple cat – one in the living room and one in Maya’s room – and all their furniture had different colors, making the place a mix of the two of them.

“Wow, this place hasn’t changed” Josh looked around. It had been months since he was there, just helping Maya bring some furniture’s she had bought on a flea market. To be completely honest, he was amazed on how those two managed to live together. Their personalities were the opposite but they managed to live without any problems.

“We barely get to stay here enough to change things” Maya came back from her room. “Riley is always looking for stories to write for the paper and I’m painting on the roof or seeing my baby sister.”

“How’s she by the way?” Josh leans on the wall looking at Maya. “The last time I saw her she was complaining that the tooth fairy forgot to bring the teeth with her.”

“Being a tooth fairy is hard, ok?” She pointed at him as he started to smile. “She can’t turn the light on to look for the teeth and needs to be very quiet with little girls that wake up with the smallest of noises.”

“Yeah sure”

“She’s good though. My parents took her to Philly for a visit. Rumor has it that Mr. Feeny wants to make sure Shawn is doing a good job.”

“You know he did the same thing with Cory, right?” Maya nodded smiling.

“So, what’s up with you?”

“Not much. I applied for an internship a while ago and I just found out I’m one of the finalists.”

“Josh, that’s great!” She hugged him. “This is a big deal.”

“I probably won’t get it. I’m running with guys that are in better schools than me and are more qualified for it.”

“Wow, a pessimistic Matthews.” She raised her brow. They had separated from the hug but were way closer than before. “That’s a first.”

“Someone in that family had to be the black sheep. Otherwise we’d be one those creepy families with those fake forced smiles in their faces.” He said shrugging. “And I’d be here to murder you.”

As Maya laughed, Josh kept looking at her. She looked so beautiful and all he could think was everything Jasmine said to him over the years. He loved how Maya sometimes stayed over their apartment when she was too lazy to get home. Or the way she always made him laugh with her stories about her classes. He always found quite charming the way she flirted with him to make him uncomfortable around people or when he heard her laugh. When she noticed he was looking at her, she faced him still with a smile on her lips.

“What are you staring at, you dork?” Josh had no idea how it happened. He didn’t know if it was the way she looked at him or how his eyes immediately went to her lips, but the next thing he knew, Josh was pulling Maya by the waist and kissing her.

At first, both were frozen by the act. They didn’t moved their lips for a while, just kept them pressed against each other’s. It was the first time that something like this was happening and neither one of them knew what to do next. However, still feeling confident on his act; Josh started to move his lips slowly, being followed by her.

The kiss was shy and delicate. Maya rested her hands on the side of his body, making Josh’s body shiver. Her lips were warm and inviting, which was more than enough to make Josh pull her closer to him. One of his hands was still on her waist while the other held her face gently.

She didn’t know if she was imagining things, but Maya swore she could feel his heart beating against her body. She knew hers were the exact same way and she wondered if he could feel it too.

After a while, the kiss became different. As soon as she opened her mouth to give access to his tongue, everything changed. Her hands moved quickly to his hair and, if it were possible, brought him closer to her.

Soon enough, they were lying down on her couch. His mouth never left hers as he laid on top of her while her hands were on each side of his face. Slowly, his lips move to her neck, giving soft kisses and hearing her breath getting faster. Josh was amazed on how her skin was soft and easily shivered by his touch.

When he moves back to look at her, it just takes a long second for Maya to open her eyes. Her voice comes in a whisper so soft that the only reason Josh hears it is because he’s so close to her face.

“Josh, I have a girlfriend”

He doesn’t say anything. He keeps looking at her just like she’s doing with him. He can hear how those words break his heart but he doesn’t show. He just keeps looking at Maya’s face.

“I know” He whispers back. “I’m sorry”

His eyes keep staring at hers. A few minutes ago, they were filled with laughter and joy. But now her beautiful blue eyes were pure sadness. They weren’t shinning anymore. He doesn’t want to move and neither does she, but they know they can’t stay there forever. They know that what happened cannot happen again for their own good. Everything he was feeling moments ago were replaced by a void.

“I think I’m gonna go” He mumbles already getting up.

Maya doesn’t try to say anything. She knows there’s nothing she can say that moment. Josh doesn’t look at her as he grabs his jacket on the chair next to the door and leaves her apartment. Her eyes never left him.

* * *

Josh looks at the rain ironically as soon as he leaves Maya’s building. Of course it would be raining after everything that happened that moment. After everything he was feeling. If he was completely honest, Josh didn’t think he could handle a sunny day.

He walked for about ten minutes into the rain before he gets to the next building. He doesn’t have to buzz in once a guy was leaving the place as soon as he arrives it. When he gets to the blue door in the end of the hall, he knocks a few times before the doors open.

Jasmine stops when she sees him at her door. Her first urge is to close in his face again, but seeing him all wet from the rain makes her hesitate. The fact that he looks broken makes her to step aside and let him enter the place.

As soon as she closes the door, he talks.

“I kissed Maya”

Her eyes widened. “ _What?_ ”

“I don’t know how it happened!” Josh spoke a little louder than he was supposed to. It was like he was screaming to himself. “We were talking and she laughed and the next thing I knew, I kissed her!”

“What happened then? Did she kiss you back? Did she slap you?” She looked closely at his face. “Did she pull away?”

“She kissed me back” His voice was soft now, like what he was telling her was something that happened in a dream. “We kissed for a while, getting to a point where I was on top of her in the couch.”

Jasmine’s eyes were almost popping out of her face with surprise and excitement. But she knew something was off. Josh wasn’t smiling.

“So you two kissed and probably realized that you like each other” Her voice was careful, making sure she wasn’t intruding. “What’s the matter?”

“She has a girlfriend. That’s the matter” Josh stands up so fast almost bumping into Jasmine. He starts to pace from one side to another. “I made her cheat on her girlfriend! I kissed her without any indication she wanted me to. I’m a horrible person.”

“No, you’re not. You’re a good person with lack of good judgement.” She pushed him to the couch near her and held his hand. “You did a lot of stupid things these past days. You fought with me, kissed a girl in a relationship, walked in the rain even though you have serious problems with health and walked into my place without a pizza. None of those make you a bad person, just a stupid one.”

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry for what I said. I was out of limits.”

“That’s fine. I’m sorry too.” She looked at him. “What about I order something to eat while you take a shower and stop getting my couch wet?”

“Sounds great” He stands up and walks towards the bathroom. “I’m staying over by the way. Your neighborhood is way scary at night.”

“Yeah, like I already didn’t know that.”

* * *

A month went by and Josh had barely any contact with Maya. He saw her almost every week walking around campus or sometimes when he joined her and Riley to the Matthew’s dinner. However, he never spoke to her directly and made sure that he spends that whole time with his nephew, helping with his homework or giving secret advices about girls. She also didn’t attempt any contact with him. Luckily nobody notices that change in their relationship.

Maya missed him a lot, though. When she stopped at Jasmine’s work, she tried to know what was going on with him without actually asking but it was never given much. The same thing happened with their common friends, who always commented on something about him being very busy these last days but nothing further than that.

She had no idea on how to approach him. After their kiss she didn’t know what to do regarding her relationship with her girlfriend and with him. Thinking it’d be easier to let anyone else decide it, the first thing she did was tell Piper about the kiss. Surprisingly, she forgave her pretty quickly. After all, it wasn’t like Maya had kissed Josh; it was the other way around.

When she brought the subject to Riley, she got way more confused than she already was. Her best friend asked what did that mean and if she still had the same feelings for Josh from all those years ago. She put so many questions on her head that she didn’t know how to answer them all.

Maya didn’t think it was fair to her to end a relationship for something that she wasn’t sure, so after two days asking herself about her feelings for Josh, she decided to move on and pretend the whole didn’t happen. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be. Every time she saw something that reminded of him, every time she pick up the phone to call him to tell what happened that day, Maya’s heart would break a little, knowing that it wasn’t possible anymore.

That was what she feared the most. Maya valued their friendship so much and didn’t want to act on something more afraid they’d lose their friendship and that was exactly what happened. And she had absolutely no idea on what to do to fix it.

When she entered the coffee shop that morning the only person in there was Jasmine. She frowned and went to the counter where the girl was entertained on a magazine.

“What happened here? It turned into a ghost coffee shop?” She asked looking around. Everything is completely normal. All the places are set, everything is clean and she can smell the fresh pot of coffee from there.

“There’s a Starbucks around the corner now” She flipped a page and looked at Maya. “Here for your last free coffee?”

“Yes. Make it super strong please”

“So, how’s everything?” She asked. “It’s been a long time since we’ve talked”

“Everything’s practically the same… Well, except that I’m single now.”

“Oh…” That caught up Jasmine’s attention but she didn’t show it. “I’m sorry… How are you?”

“I’m fine… I mean, I knew it wouldn’t last forever but considering everything, I’m okay with it.” She said while playing with the straws on the counter. “So… How’s… everybody?”

Jasmine smiled knowing exactly what she was asking. “Everyone is fine. Andrew grew a stupid mustache, Charlotte cut her hair and I’m probably getting another job, seeing how slowly this is getting.”

“Oh… Yeah… What else?”

“Josh is fine too. He got that internship he applied to.” She handed her coffee. “He misses you a lot, you know.”

“I miss him too…” She mumbles drinking a sip of her coffee. “Everything is so weird now. We don’t talk; we don’t see each other anymore. It’s like… Something’s off.”

“Maya” She touched her hand. “I promise that’s the last time I’ll meddle in whatever it is you and Josh have. But let me give you some great advice.” Maya rolled her eyes but paid attention. “What you and Josh feel for each other is not something you find around the corner. I’m not saying is love” She rushed to say. “But is something strong enough that makes both of you do stupid things for each other.”

“Like what?”

“Like kissing a committed girl or not acting on it because someone is scare of the future”

“What do you think I should do?”

“Honey, you know exactly what I think you should do.” She looked at the door, seeing another customer. “I think I made my feelings as clear as possible in the past years.”

“Yeah…” She checked her phone and looked back at Jasmine. “I have to go or I’ll be late for class. I’ll see you later.”

* * *

That had been a stressful day. That was his first week in the internship and Josh could totally say that it had been the most stressful, exciting, busy week ever. He was completely grateful for getting that opportunity – it wasn’t easy finding a paid internship – but all he wanted at the moment was a long hot shower and something to eat.

However, he knew his plans weren’t going to happen when he saw Maya sitting in front of his door. Josh was a little confused seeing her there, once they were doing their best to avoid each other, but she looked pretty comfortable reading a paper while eating some takeout. He didn’t move for a few seconds before walking in her direction.

Maya didn’t seem to notice when he stopped in front of her. She was too entertained reading the Columbia Spectator, the paper Riley participated in Columbia. After a while, he cleans his throat, making her look at the man in front of her.

“Oh, hi” She greeted him.

“Hi.” He says scratching the back of his neck. “Uh… What are you doing?”

“I’m reading the article Riley wrote for the paper. She made the cover. It’s very good.”

“Yeah, I know… Topanga e-mailed it for everyone in the family.” Maya stayed silent. “But, uh, I meant _here_. As in my apartment.”

“Oh, right” Maya finally stands up, grabbing her bag, food and paper. “I need to talk to you”

“Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, I just need to talk to you.”

“Okay then.” He opens the door and gives her space to enter. Maya goes straight to the couch, putting her things in the center table. Josh takes a while to put himself together, going to his bedroom to leave his stuff and changing into something more comfortable.

When he heads back, Maya had already made herself comfortable, drinking one of his beers. She looks at him and stands up, opening her mouth.

But nothing comes out of it.

They keep staring each other for a few seconds, making the whole situation more awkward that it already was. Finally, when she’s ready, Maya puts her beer down and takes a deep breath.

“One of my paintings was chosen to be in an art exhibition.”

That wasn’t what Josh was expecting at all.

“Uh… Congratu-“

“I got the call the other day and when they said they were going to display it, I couldn’t believe.” She smiles. “I mean, this is big, huge. I never thought it would happen but it did.”

“Well, you were alway-“

“But then after the call ended I wasn’t that happy anymore.” The smile faded from her lips and Josh got more confused than before. “I was happy, but I should have been more. I tried to pretend that it was just the shock and that when I told Riley and my parents, that joy would come back.”

“Maya, why…”

“It didn’t. Riley pretty much cried and my parents told everybody, _they’re so proud._ ” At that point, Josh realized that she wasn’t exactly talking to him. So he decided to just stop trying to say something to her. “Shawn said that he’s going to try to bring Mr. Feeny, your parents, Mr. Turner, to see his daughter big moment.” She started to pace from side to side. “And I just couldn’t be as excited as everyone was.”

There was a silence.

“Maya”

“I realized that it was you. I was your entire fault.”

“ _What?_ ” He was so lost. “How is it my fault?”

“You were the one who kissed me. You were the one who, apparently, liked me all this time and never bothered to tell me. You were the one I was thinking about when I was painting that stupid piece!” Josh was taken aback. “I basically put all my feelings for you in the paint, the ones I had always felt, the ones you made me feel again after that kiss…”

“Hold on a minute, you never told me either.” Josh pointed at her. “This is as much as your fault as it is mine.”

“ _I_ didn’t kiss you. _I_ didn’t make you cheat on your girlfriend.” She took a deep breath, passing her shaky hands on her hair. “Then you ignored me, not even looking or talking to me for almost a month. What the fuck was that?!”

“I thought that it was what you wanted. I was ashamed for what I did.” He lowered his voice. “Kissing you was something I didn’t plan. It just happened. It was wrong, I shouldn’t have done it, but I’m not sorry for it.” Josh took a few steps forward. “Maya, I like you. I really like you.”

“You know I like you too.” Her voice was soft and her eyes shined with the tears that seemed to come. “I always have. But I don’t know if this” She pointed at them “is worth all the drama. Or even if it means that someday we might not even be willing to look at each other again. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to either” He put held Maya’s face with his hands, stroking her cheek with this thumb. “But I also don’t want to be 90 and regret of never giving _us_ a chance.”

“Don’t you think this is a little too much?” Josh can see in her eyes that she’s doing everything she can to put a wall between them. She doesn’t want to get hurt. She doesn’t want to lose a friendship. She doesn’t even want to risk it. “You’re not the love of my life and I’m certainly not yours.”

If Josh was being completely honest, he doesn’t think it’s too much. He doesn’t think that he’s overreacting or that he’s trying too hard to get Maya. He feels like is the right thing to do, the right way to act, to follow his heart. The reason he’s willing to risk their friendship is that he knows that it wouldn’t be a simple relationship. It wouldn’t be something worthless. He was so sure about how things might end up and he was ready to tell her all that.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, the front door was opened and his roommate walked in. Maya quickly steps away from Josh.

“Oh… Uh…” Andrew’s eyes were moving from Maya to Josh. “I don’t know what to do in those situations.”

“I’m going home.” Maya grabbed her stuff and passed both of them, heading to the stairs.

“Maya!” She didn’t look back. Josh stared at his friend. “Why do you have the worst timing ever?”

“I don’t know. Let’s sit and talk about it while Maya runs away, shall we?” He doesn’t have to say anything else; Josh is already walking down the stairs, trying to catch up with Maya. It wasn’t that hard since she was a few feet away from the building’s door, trying to get a cab.

“Maya, please”

“Josh, stop this. You mean a lot to me for me to allow the end of us.” She sighted and gave him a soft smile. “Let’s just pretend that it never happened and move on, okay?”

“No, that’s not ok with me.” Josh took a deep breath. “Just… Think about it. Cool your head, sleep on it and tomorrow we’ll talk again. That’s all I ask.”

Maya wanted so badly to say no. She wasn’t giving a minimum chance for getting his hopes up about them, but as soon as she looked up and met his eyes, she couldn’t handle denying him this.

“Fine.” A cab had finally stopped in front of her. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Thank you”

* * *

Andrew was already waiting for him when Josh entered his apartment. He closed the door behind him and rested his back on it, looking more exhausted than he was when he got home earlier. All he wanted was a long shower.

“Sorry about that buddy” He patted him in the shoulders. “Jasmine told me what was going on.”

“Yeah.” It was all he could say in the moment. Josh wasn’t in the mood of talking that moment. He didn’t want to sit his friend through all the drama that had happened that night. “I’m just going to take a shower and go to bed.”

He took his time on the bathroom. On normal occasions he’d be hearing Andrew yelling at him for using all the hot water, but this time everything was quiet. He knew that the only reason it wasn’t happening was because Andrew felt sorry for his friend.

Part of Josh wanted to go over to Maya’s and try to talk to her again. But he knew that it wasn’t a decision made by pressure. He needed to give her some space to think about it and hope for the best.

When his muscles were finally relaxed and his mind at peace, Josh gets out of the shower and changes into more comfortable clothes. He leaves the bathroom and goes directly into his room, relived that Andrew isn’t on the living room waiting to talk to him. Josh needed peace that moment and he thanked God that Andrew got it.

However, when he entered his room, Josh saw the last thing he thought he’d see at that moment. Maya was in the middle of his bed, with her legs crossed and leaned on the bed’s headboard. Josh blinked a few times just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

“I couldn’t go home” She says quietly.

“Oh” That’s all he managed to say due the shock. They keep looking at each other in silence for a few seconds before Josh sits on the bed right next to her.

Slowly, Maya leans her head in his shoulders and holds one of his hands.

“If we’re doing this, we have to promise to each other that no matter what happens, we’ll still be friends.” Josh started to smile. “Nothing will change it.”

“I agree”

“And we need to talk to Riley.” She looked at him. “There’s no way we’re doing this if she thinks is weird.” Josh already knew his niece wouldn’t mind a bit if her best friend is dating her uncle. More than once she talked to him about them with Josh saying that all she wanted was Maya happy.

“Okay”

“And you’re the one who’s going to break the news for Jasmine.”

“Fi- oh my god, why?” He notices Maya holding a smile. “She’s going to scream and start taking pictures and say she’s proud of me.” Josh gives her a begging look. “Do you have any idea how long her speech of _I told you so_ is going to be?”

“What can I do?” Maya came closer to him. “Relationships have its ups and downs.” She gives him a quick kiss on his lips. “Jasmine’s reaction just happens to be the down part.”

“So… Does that mean you’re my girlfriend?”

“I don’t know…” She leans once more and kisses him. This time, the kiss was certain, like she had done it a million times before and wanted to make sure he knew that this was part of their new normal. When she broke the kiss, she smiled looking at his face. “Does that answer your question?”


End file.
